Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1887-09-24
NnrpENnENcE so1rApE.

was driven to the Hotel Lafayette.
where be WAS joined by Mrs. Clcve,
land, and they went thence to In
dependence Square, where all I'M.
mcnse stand had been erected un
der tire shadow oil the old Liberty
Bell. Tic streets and houses and
windows ;lluug the route and atthe
stand were thrJaged with people.
BESIDES the President and Mrs.
Cleveland. there were OH the stand
eX President Hayes. eXVlce ptesl
dent Hannibal iIamiln, Secreta
lieS Baya,d and Eallcillld, the Wis
i'ing Governors, soldiers and naval
officers and Justices of the Supreme
Court, Car;iial Gibbons, Bishop
Potter and many other dlstingu
lshed men. The members OF he
Society Of the Cincinnati were also
there. The Instrumental nllSic w;lS
by the Marine Band, OF Washing
ton, and the vocal music by sever.
al hundred SCHOOL children. The
cloruSes were March of lie Men
of Columbia" "The Young Re
ctuit," HAL Columbia" aud Il nrw
natiolai lil mn by L Marion Crlw
icnl. The words OF .Hail Coliln-
bi;i" were new and We're written by
Oliver Wendell Holmes. Allera
eloquent prayer by Bishop Potter,
Hon. JOHN y. haSson, president Ut
tho Constitutional Centennial Com
mission, made The opening address
MIR. CLEVELAND'S Address
at the conclusion of Mr.. Kas-
sons address the chorus sang,
"Appeal to TRUTH 10, Schiller
MeudleSsoln:) with beautiful eflcc:.
EX.Niuisler kaS>ol then escorted
the President to The speakers ros-
trum, and Mi Cleveland spoke as
follows:
81 deem it great honor and pleas
ure to participate III these lmpres-
sive exercises. Every American
citizen should OH this centennial
day rejoice i'll his citizenship. He
will not tiDd HE cause OF Ills re-
joiciug i'll The Antiquity OF his coun
NY, Tor among TIE nations ct tue
I-tdr ri thlsSrands with theyomlgest.
lie will not find it in the glll:tr
aid he polnp that bedeck Il mon
arch ana dazzle abjecJ aud serrilc
subjects, for III his country the peo-
pie themselves are rulers. lie will
not fEd itin the story Of bloody
foreign conGuestS, for his govern
ment has been content 10 care for
It's own domain and people.
.;tIe should rejoice because the
work OF framing our consl tuition
was completed enc hundred years
ago to dag, and also because, when
ccriple:ed itestabIiShed a free gov
ci"nent. He should rejoice because
this consultation and government
have Survived So long. and also be-
cause they have survived with so
lrany blessings, and have demon
strated so fNlly the strength and
value OF popular rule. He should
raioice in the wondrous growth
and achievements of the past 1OU
years, and also in The glorious
promiSe Of the constitution through
| centuries 10 come.
awe shall fail to be duly thank
full for all that was zone for us one
hundred years ago. unless we real
ize the difficulties of the work then
in hand. and the dangers avoided
in the task of forming a mere per
feet union between disininted aud
inlaImonious States, With interests
and opinions radically diverse and
SuibbornlY maintained.
"The perplcxities of the conyen,
ton which undertook the Iabsa Of
preparing our constitution are ap
parent in the earnest words of Ola
of the most llIuStrioGs Of it's mcln-
berS. The small progress VIC have
made, after four or five weeks OF
close attendance aud continued
reasonings with each other, cur
different sentiments on almost
every question-several of the last
producing as many noes us yeas
is, methiukS, a melancholy proof Of
the imperfection of the human I'M
dels .andins We, indeed, seem to
eel our own want of political wis
dom, since we have been running
about in search of it. We lave
gore back to ancient history for
models of government, and exam
incd the different forms OF those
Republics which, having been
formed with the seeds of t'elr own
dissolution, now no longer exist
III this situation of this assembly,
glopinga as it were in the dark to
frd political truth, and scarcely
able to distinguish it when present
ed to us, how has it happened, sir,
that we have not heretofore once
Thought of humbly applying to the
Father Of Light to illuminate our
understandings
"And this wise man, proposing
to his fellows hat the aid and bless
ing of God should be invoked in
their extremity, declared: